Never a Perfect Moment by Cathy Cole

Author:Cathy Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic UK
Published: 2014-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

The next morning Polly lay on her bed, listening to the water run as Eve took her shower. She’d been in there for a good forty minutes now, and Polly was desperate to wash her hair.

She whiled away the wait by thinking of Ollie. His wide shoulders, his heartbreaking smile. The locket she still wore around her neck. She hadn’t taken it off since Ollie had given it to her. It was like a talisman. Proof that everything would work out fine. Somehow.

She just had to break the news to Ollie about Friday. Swinging her legs off the bed, Polly padded over to Eve’s bag and started hunting for her phone. Tissues, lipsticks, a pink leather diary, a purse containing about four credit cards. Polly couldn’t help but whistle as she stared at the gold one. What must it be like, she wondered, not having to worry about money for a single minute?

No phone. Eve had hidden it well. Polly sat down on the bed again. If Eve took much longer, she would have to take a wash downstairs in the kitchen sink.

“That’s better,” said Eve, padding back into the bedroom in a pure white towelling robe. Her auburn hair hung in shiny wet tendrils down her back. “Steaming your pores is so important. I try and do it every day.”

Finally, Polly thought. She sat up.

“Can I go in the bathroom now?”

“What a silly question! It’s your house, Polly,” Eve said generously. “Of course you can. Oh, wait, I need to floss.”

Ten more minutes passed. Polly tried not to feel too irritated when Eve swanned out of the bathroom again, running her tongue over her perfect white teeth.

“So what are we going to do today?” Eve asked brightly. She surveyed her clothes, which lay in tangled heaps all over Polly’s carpet. It had taken every bit of Polly’s self-control not to pick them up and fold them and arrange them in neat piles. “It would be good to know before I get dressed so I can be sure of wearing the right thing.”

“We don’t normally do much on Sundays,” said Polly, tearing her eyes from Eve’s mountain of clothes and eyeing the bathroom longingly.

“I’ll think of something fun,” said Eve. “How about—”

“Going in the bathroom now,” said Polly.

She shut the bathroom door, and looked around in dismay. More mess. The tiny room looked like a bomb had hit it. Dripping shampoo bottles lay on their sides in the tub. The shower curtain was soaked and hanging out of the bath, water dripping and puddling on the bath mat.

Polly found the only dry part of the bathroom floor and stood there, breathing hard.

Stay calm, she instructed herself.

The fact remained that Eve had needed a place to stay and Polly had offered. It was what friends did. Friends shouldn’t get worked up over damp towels, she knew, but she couldn’t help herself. How much longer would Eve be staying? She needed space to think.

Polly located the only dry towel and laid it out on the chair.

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